


Death Doesn't Discriminate

by Young_Professer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Assisted Suicide, Corpses, Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24330937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Young_Professer/pseuds/Young_Professer
Summary: CAUTION: This could be triggering. There's nothing very graphic but the idea itself is pretty dark so I tagged it just to be safe.Inspired by a dream I had, the phrase "Legal Suicide", and Padmes's story in AOTC ( the attempt at relocating the people of Shadda-Bi-Boran, which in the end was unsuccessful and the entire species died.)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Death Doesn't Discriminate

Mace watched as beings streamed into the hall, each taking a small adhesive and sticking it onto the skin of their chest with eerie calmness. It bothered him that he couldn't do anything about this. It was the kindest option, for a species that could not function anywhere besides their dying planet. They could choose to leave life on their own terms, or to slowly suffocate in their own atmosphere. By the rules of the Republic it was legal, and by Jedi rules… 

By Jedi rules he could do nothing about it either. Each person were making the choice out of a sane mind, and they were going to be donating their organs to experimentation so hopefully the scientists could find a way to modify them so that their next generation could survive. 

Finally all of the thirty beds were filled, the door closed, and the pulses began. He felt them strongly in the force, the electrical currents targeted the micro-hearts and shutting them down one by one. It took three minutes until he felt the life be ripped from their bodies. To an outsider, it would have looked like they died peacefully, but Mace felt each soul be taken like a knife to the chest. 

Then the beds moved automatically, rolling smoothly through the door on the other side of the room. In their place rose another one from its slot in the floor. Not twenty seconds later the front door slid open and the next line filed in. Mace was still reeling from what he had just experienced. How could they not feel how the room reeked of death? 

He had to do this fourteen more times, he realized. He would have to live through it again and again. He would have to watch and feel over three hundred beings die.

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
  


Mace felt like he was going to vomit by the time he left that hell of a place, the edges of his force-sense feeling raw and exposed. The beds had not even begun their slow procession but his responsibility was over. The Republic worker at the front desk thanked him for his service as he passed, and Mace tried to nod in return before going up to the observation room where the scientists had been overseeing the entire process. Depa was already there, having finished her job of speaking to each of the beings before they went into the room to die. Her eyes flickered momentarily in his direction as he entered and stepped towards the group that was gathered around the window that he presumed was to the room he had just occupied. 

_ You don't want to see this. _ Her gaze said. But Mace joined them anyway. He had been in that space for hours, it would do him no harm to see the bodies rolling their way out of the room as they had fourteen times bef-

This wasn't the same room he had left from that he saw through the window. This one held the bodies. 

They lay naked in rows, droids moving methodically thought them and slicing open their bodies, taking out their small hearts and placing them on trays. He stared for a split second, and then it became too much for him to handle.

Mace's stomach churned and he pressed his lips together to keep himself from vomiting, walking as fast as he could out of the room before anybody else could notice his presence. There was no door in the space, but there was a partition that was thankfully dark and empty on the other side. He stopped there, blood roaring in his ears. His sense of the force felt so sensitive and worn that it was painful. It was not particularly intense pain, but it was so constant and grating that it felt excruciating. Mace tilted his head up to stare at the shadows of the ceiling, not actually seeing it as the feeling overwhelmed him. 

Depa appeared from around the other side of the partition, her presence stretching out and brushing his. Mace flinched at the mental touch. It was so gentle, but it somehow managed to spike pain through his nervous system. Depa walked over to him, humming quietly in understanding before wrapping her arms around him. Mace tensed again, not so much at the physical contact but from the soft but concentrated flow of power that came with it. It  _ hurt _ for a moment, but Depa was Jedi Master after all, and the pain soon transformed into a warm and healing sensation. Mace allowed his head to fall to rest on top of hers, folding his hands together on her back in a silent 'Thank you'. 

He would have preferred a less intimate looking meditation, but the touch made it easier for Depa so he stood still, letting her soothe the sore edges of his force sense and wrap him in light. After a minute or two she stepped back, a small satisfied smile on her face as she raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Better?" She asked quietly, and Mace nodded, expressing his gratitude in his eyes. She patted his arm and left, and Mace took another moment to relax his mind before pulling the outer layers of his shields back up. The action only grated the slightest bit, thanks to Depa, and that would just take time to completely heal. 

But that would come later. Mace set his jaw and moved to enter the observation room again. The mission wasn't over yet 

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this technically for Mace Windu Appreciation Day 2020 but the story was not written for the occasion. I actually wrote this months ago and forgot about it until now.


End file.
